History will be kind to Amodu!
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- Category: Sports
- Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY
- Hits: 566
I do not like writing about Amodu Shuaibu. He is my friend. At the same time he is a coach, easily the most difficult job in the world. Add to that the fact that he is a very sensitive person who takes critical views and criticism very personal.
The job he does is an impossible one. It is a profession populated more by ‘losers’ than by ‘winners’. In fact there are very few real winners in coaching. I mean those that have escaped the poisoned arrow of critics when the teams they are coaching fail to perform well or to win! By virtue of its nature coaching attracts more criticism than commendation since a coach is deemed to have succeeded mostly only when his team wins. Therefore, with room for only one coach at the top of every competition the football planet is full of failed and failing coaches. So, I deliberately avoid writing about coaches as much as possible in order to keep my friendships.
It follows also that anyone who takes on the responsibility of handling the national team must develop a thick skin to the criticism, abuses, condemnation and eventual ‘crucifixion’ that must follow when things start to go wrong as they will inevitably do, as no coach monopolises winning! No coach escapes sharp criticism and even abuse, or is immune to it’s negative effect. Ask the most ‘successful’ coach in the history of Nigerian football to tell you his story and you will be told stories of how he had to abscond from the job, hounded by the players, the media and even his employers; how for some years he could not even return to the country only for time and history to mellow the negative sentiments and eventually allocate him his deserved credit; how he was so ‘successful’ that his stint as national coach of Nigeria remains his only claim to fame; how his record as the ‘best coach’ in Nigeria’s history has failed to land him another major job any where else in the world; how Nigeria’s most ‘successful’ coach has had to humble himself and accept the lowly job of coaching in a small football academy struggling to impact anything in Nigerian football and living in the periphery of obscurity! Football is a very cruel game at the end of the day, That’s why its history is littered with the story of those that have been involved in the game at different levels and different capacities, left it at one point or the other and are reduced to languishing in anger, neglect, and penury. That is the nature of football. Amodu must look around, learn fast and give thanks to God that provided the Grace for this test. His assurance should be that even as things stand today, history will be very kind to him and grade him highly. For what he has done, down the line of life his praises shall be sung, no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says or does. Amodu Shuaibu has done well. It may not be enough to take Nigeria to the next level n the estimation of some, but another opportunity beckons. And who knows, anything can happen! But for now he has to embrace and live above the criticisms, somehow remain focussed on the job and get it done!
The Eagles List and my good wishes!
This past week, like all other Nigerians interested in the Super Eagles’ preparations for what would be an immensely challenging task in Angola, I saw the published list of players for the championship. I have since also been following the discussions and debates over the selection in the media, particularly the inclusion of three home-based players in the squad of 30. I have nothing to say about the content of the team. I do not think there is a player that should have been in the team that is not there nor is there one in the list that should not be. The challenge has not really been that of who is invited to the team or not, but that of how those invited are deployed into battle. For a long time now the players have not been playing like a well-oiled machine that the people now expect of the Super Eagles. The team has played without conviction and at half-steam. Amodu’s greatest challenge n Angola would be how to lift the sprit of the team and make the players play like people possessed with the desire to win or die! It is in their attitude not that anyone expects them to put their lives on the line! The team must be very physically fit to a level that will enable the players to run, chase every ball and cover every blade of grass, exploiting their greatest gift – athleticism. They must be able to fight and contest for every ball. They must be so imaginative that their moves must create goal-scoring opportunities over and over again. The players must play with a deliberateness that should interpret to discernible strategies rehearsed in practise and executed over and over again during every game. This will help in ensuring that opportunities are converted and defences are well organised. The ability to do these and make players execute them will define how good Amodu is and how far he can go after Angola.
The ability to impact these comes from several sources all complimenting each other to make a whole - experience of having played the game to an appreciable level and receiving instructions from knowledgeable coaches, quality of training received in a coaching institution, the quality of such an institution, plus the intelligence and creativity of the coach himself. The last two are the most important. They separate the men from the boys in coaching – intelligence and creativity! Even in spite of all these, luck and countless other unknown, unseen and indefinable factors come into play in determining a team’s fate. Whatever though, my admonition to Amodu is that he puts on his creative cap, seeks and gets some support in the area of tactics and strategy, go out with confidence, and drive the players and earn their respect. After that they will play and want to win just for him! It is a tall order I know, easier said and done, but that’s what he has to do. Amodu has several great qualities working for him but those that he so glaringly does not have he must acquire. Finally he must be humble, learning to stoop in order to conquer! I sincerely wish him well in Angola and even beyond!
NNPC/Shell Cup!
Shell had been promoting the combination of football and education through its eleven-year old championship without getting too much attention and appreciation. During the World Cup draws in South Africa two weeks ago Sepp Blatter announced to the world that the organisation he leads, FIFA, is using the 2010 World Cup championship to promote a global legacy project called 1 Goal - Education for All, using football to drive the cause of educating the millions of uneducated children around the world. Meanwhile, that has been Shell’s objective for 11 years since the All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup was introduced into the country’s football grassroots agenda. The competition’s slogan has been ‘football and education – growing hand in hand’. Sepp Blatter’s pronouncement has brought greater attention to the need to get it right this time around in our domestic space. The championship is taking off again this week, determined in its objectives to strengthen its grassroots talent hunt event for Nigeria’s next under-17 national team. That none of the players that represented the country in the recently concluded Under-17 FIFA World Cup was selected from secondary school poses a great challenge to all those who profess authenticity in our age-group competitions. We must do a reappraisal of the modus of selecting players for Nigeria’s junior teams.
With renewed determination to make the championship even more beneficial than it has been NNPC and Shell have come out for the 2010 NNPC/Shell Cup championship with fire in their eyes, and in the spirit of the significance of the year, (Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee anniversary and the country’s qualification for the World Cup) with a commitment to make it the best ever. Watch out!
Sports Network Initiative!
We have done it! The amalgamation of stakeholders of institutional sports in Nigeria, called Sports Network Initiative, SNI, has been finally registered. This is a body established to tackle, head-on, the issues of documentation, registration, mercenaries, age-falsification, over-aged players, illiteracy, life after sports, and education for all children in all our institutions and bodies affiliated to it. our environment!
In the next few weeks the project will be launched into the Nigerian sports space and Nigerian sports will never be the same again. Watch out!
Articles
History will be kind to Amodu!
Category: Sports Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY Hits: 566
I do not like writing about Amodu Shuaibu. He is my friend. At the same time he is a coach, easily the most difficult job in the world. Add to that the fact that he is a very sensitive person who takes critical views and criticism very personal.
The job he does is an impossible one. It is a profession populated more by ‘losers’ than by ‘winners’. In fact there are very few real winners in coaching. I mean those that have escaped the poisoned arrow of critics when the teams they are coaching fail to perform well or to win! By virtue of its nature coaching attracts more criticism than commendation since a coach is deemed to have succeeded mostly only when his team wins. Therefore, with room for only one coach at the top of every competition the football planet is full of failed and failing coaches. So, I deliberately avoid writing about coaches as much as possible in order to keep my friendships.
It follows also that anyone who takes on the responsibility of handling the national team must develop a thick skin to the criticism, abuses, condemnation and eventual ‘crucifixion’ that must follow when things start to go wrong as they will inevitably do, as no coach monopolises winning! No coach escapes sharp criticism and even abuse, or is immune to it’s negative effect. Ask the most ‘successful’ coach in the history of Nigerian football to tell you his story and you will be told stories of how he had to abscond from the job, hounded by the players, the media and even his employers; how for some years he could not even return to the country only for time and history to mellow the negative sentiments and eventually allocate him his deserved credit; how he was so ‘successful’ that his stint as national coach of Nigeria remains his only claim to fame; how his record as the ‘best coach’ in Nigeria’s history has failed to land him another major job any where else in the world; how Nigeria’s most ‘successful’ coach has had to humble himself and accept the lowly job of coaching in a small football academy struggling to impact anything in Nigerian football and living in the periphery of obscurity! Football is a very cruel game at the end of the day, That’s why its history is littered with the story of those that have been involved in the game at different levels and different capacities, left it at one point or the other and are reduced to languishing in anger, neglect, and penury. That is the nature of football. Amodu must look around, learn fast and give thanks to God that provided the Grace for this test. His assurance should be that even as things stand today, history will be very kind to him and grade him highly. For what he has done, down the line of life his praises shall be sung, no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says or does. Amodu Shuaibu has done well. It may not be enough to take Nigeria to the next level n the estimation of some, but another opportunity beckons. And who knows, anything can happen! But for now he has to embrace and live above the criticisms, somehow remain focussed on the job and get it done!
The Eagles List and my good wishes!
This past week, like all other Nigerians interested in the Super Eagles’ preparations for what would be an immensely challenging task in Angola, I saw the published list of players for the championship. I have since also been following the discussions and debates over the selection in the media, particularly the inclusion of three home-based players in the squad of 30. I have nothing to say about the content of the team. I do not think there is a player that should have been in the team that is not there nor is there one in the list that should not be. The challenge has not really been that of who is invited to the team or not, but that of how those invited are deployed into battle. For a long time now the players have not been playing like a well-oiled machine that the people now expect of the Super Eagles. The team has played without conviction and at half-steam. Amodu’s greatest challenge n Angola would be how to lift the sprit of the team and make the players play like people possessed with the desire to win or die! It is in their attitude not that anyone expects them to put their lives on the line! The team must be very physically fit to a level that will enable the players to run, chase every ball and cover every blade of grass, exploiting their greatest gift – athleticism. They must be able to fight and contest for every ball. They must be so imaginative that their moves must create goal-scoring opportunities over and over again. The players must play with a deliberateness that should interpret to discernible strategies rehearsed in practise and executed over and over again during every game. This will help in ensuring that opportunities are converted and defences are well organised. The ability to do these and make players execute them will define how good Amodu is and how far he can go after Angola.
The ability to impact these comes from several sources all complimenting each other to make a whole - experience of having played the game to an appreciable level and receiving instructions from knowledgeable coaches, quality of training received in a coaching institution, the quality of such an institution, plus the intelligence and creativity of the coach himself. The last two are the most important. They separate the men from the boys in coaching – intelligence and creativity! Even in spite of all these, luck and countless other unknown, unseen and indefinable factors come into play in determining a team’s fate. Whatever though, my admonition to Amodu is that he puts on his creative cap, seeks and gets some support in the area of tactics and strategy, go out with confidence, and drive the players and earn their respect. After that they will play and want to win just for him! It is a tall order I know, easier said and done, but that’s what he has to do. Amodu has several great qualities working for him but those that he so glaringly does not have he must acquire. Finally he must be humble, learning to stoop in order to conquer! I sincerely wish him well in Angola and even beyond!
NNPC/Shell Cup!
Shell had been promoting the combination of football and education through its eleven-year old championship without getting too much attention and appreciation. During the World Cup draws in South Africa two weeks ago Sepp Blatter announced to the world that the organisation he leads, FIFA, is using the 2010 World Cup championship to promote a global legacy project called 1 Goal - Education for All, using football to drive the cause of educating the millions of uneducated children around the world. Meanwhile, that has been Shell’s objective for 11 years since the All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup was introduced into the country’s football grassroots agenda. The competition’s slogan has been ‘football and education – growing hand in hand’. Sepp Blatter’s pronouncement has brought greater attention to the need to get it right this time around in our domestic space. The championship is taking off again this week, determined in its objectives to strengthen its grassroots talent hunt event for Nigeria’s next under-17 national team. That none of the players that represented the country in the recently concluded Under-17 FIFA World Cup was selected from secondary school poses a great challenge to all those who profess authenticity in our age-group competitions. We must do a reappraisal of the modus of selecting players for Nigeria’s junior teams.
With renewed determination to make the championship even more beneficial than it has been NNPC and Shell have come out for the 2010 NNPC/Shell Cup championship with fire in their eyes, and in the spirit of the significance of the year, (Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee anniversary and the country’s qualification for the World Cup) with a commitment to make it the best ever. Watch out!
Sports Network Initiative!
We have done it! The amalgamation of stakeholders of institutional sports in Nigeria, called Sports Network Initiative, SNI, has been finally registered. This is a body established to tackle, head-on, the issues of documentation, registration, mercenaries, age-falsification, over-aged players, illiteracy, life after sports, and education for all children in all our institutions and bodies affiliated to it. our environment!
In the next few weeks the project will be launched into the Nigerian sports space and Nigerian sports will never be the same again. Watch out!